Meaningless God vs Science quarrels
Sunday, 1. May 2005, 00:58:15
Some time in the past, I've read some discussions on how the universe was created, whether it was by design or by chance. Most of you have probably also seen some of the same arguments from both sides. But what eventually happens is that no one is able to convince the other side that they have the right answer. What you end up with is a bunch of half-informed web pages using half-truths and logical fallacies to support their side.
What brought about this post was that I had another great notion while seated on the great thinking chair (i.e. toilet). The idea came back to me about if God was not confined by time when he created the heavens and the earth, then why does the Bible insist that God created everything in six days? No more, no less. This question actually leads to many interesting answers, but nothing seems quite correct to me and only leads to more questions.
For one, how does one define day and how is it used in the Genesis passages? In many languages, including English and Hebrew (in which the original Scriptures were written), day can have many meanings depending on how one uses it. Many religious and philosophical sites will argue that the day has no other meaning other than being a 24-hour time period; while others try to use scientific allegories to extend the word day to cover a long period time as short as thousands of years to as long as billions of years. Unless God needed a realistic model, so he spent billions of years to test things out. But it sounds like God already planned everything out, and just needed six days to create everything. Neither solution really answers why God really needs six days or six billion years to accomplish anything.
Let's say God uses day so that us mere humans can understand the scope of the creation project. Would you be more impressed to know that the universe actually existed billions of years before we existed, or would you be more impressed to know that God has the power to create an entire universe in just six days? Not that God needs to justify or to boast his powers. After all, you don't have to believe in miracles to believe in God.
Another thing is
What brought about this post was that I had another great notion while seated on the great thinking chair (i.e. toilet). The idea came back to me about if God was not confined by time when he created the heavens and the earth, then why does the Bible insist that God created everything in six days? No more, no less. This question actually leads to many interesting answers, but nothing seems quite correct to me and only leads to more questions.
For one, how does one define day and how is it used in the Genesis passages? In many languages, including English and Hebrew (in which the original Scriptures were written), day can have many meanings depending on how one uses it. Many religious and philosophical sites will argue that the day has no other meaning other than being a 24-hour time period; while others try to use scientific allegories to extend the word day to cover a long period time as short as thousands of years to as long as billions of years. Unless God needed a realistic model, so he spent billions of years to test things out. But it sounds like God already planned everything out, and just needed six days to create everything. Neither solution really answers why God really needs six days or six billion years to accomplish anything.
Let's say God uses day so that us mere humans can understand the scope of the creation project. Would you be more impressed to know that the universe actually existed billions of years before we existed, or would you be more impressed to know that God has the power to create an entire universe in just six days? Not that God needs to justify or to boast his powers. After all, you don't have to believe in miracles to believe in God.
Another thing is
